By: [Author Name]
Date: 2023 Archives
In the sweltering summer of 2023, an unlikely social media phenomenon emerged from the bustling, traffic-clogged streets of Metro Manila. Dubbed the “Filipina Trike Patrol,” a group of twenty motorcycle sidecar (tricycle) drivers—all women—became an internet sensation under the hashtag #GlobeTwatters2023. The name, a playful mashup of “Globe” (referring to both the telecommunications giant and the global reach of their story) and “twatters” (a colloquial, slightly irreverent take on “tweeters” or “chatters”), captured the world’s attention. filipina trike patrol 20 globe twatters 2023
The “Globe Twatters” weren’t your average keyboard warriors. They were a loose collective of 20 OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers), expats, and balikbayans based in Dubai, London, Tokyo, New York, and Riyadh. Their 2023 ritual: every Sunday at 8 PM PHT, they’d raid Filipino Twitter spaces, looking for “undiscovered lore.” By: [Author Name] Date: 2023 Archives In the
That night, the algorithm served them a grainy 15-second clip posted by a student. The video showed Luz flagging down a tricycle that had sideswiped a car. But instead of shouting, she calmly pulled out a laminated “Trike Patrol” ID, wrote a citation, and helped the driver settle the dispute with a pack of skyflakes and a handshake. The video showed Luz flagging down a tricycle
The caption read: “Si ma’am Luz ng Trike Patrol. Hindi na kailangan ng traffic enforcer. 20 pesos lang sakay, pero peace of mind, libre.”
Each morning at 5 AM, the patrol assembles at a sari-sari store corner. Their trikes, repurposed for passenger transport by day, become mobile command centers by late afternoon. They report potholes, alert authorities to streetlight outages, and have helped rescue three lost children and two elderly persons with dementia. More famously, they’ve documented—and shamed—illegal dumpers who use dark alleys as garbage sites. Their most viral clip, uploaded in August 2023, showed a Trike Patrol member calmly blocking a stolen motorcycle’s exit until police arrived. That single video racked up 20 million views across platforms.